The Exciting Conclusion

Yesterday we took a quick look at the history of the 700 MHz frequency range and what it’s good for. Now we got all the background stuff out of the way we can get into the really good stuff.

There are two large blocks of the 700 MHz frequency range that are being auctioned off; they are referred to as blocks C and D. These are the ones that everyone wants to get their hands on. There have also been a lot of people worried about the auction. The main concern is if you auction off the rights to build the wireless network of tomorrow it’s obvious who will win - the entity willing to spend the most money. Who will be willing to spend the most money? They’ll need deep pockets and want to change the industry….or, more likely, they’ll need deep pockets and want to keep their strangle hold on the status quo. Many worry that AT&T and Verizon will snap up the spectrum and under-utilize it.

So here’s the twist. The FCC decided to make some rules that the winner of the auction will have to follow. Whoever wins the rights to block D will also have to build a nationwide wireless network that is good enough to meet public safety specifications for coverage and redundancy. Basically, they have to build a first responder wireless data network, which is cool.

The really big story is whoever wins block C (which is the one with the most commercial promise) has to follow open access rules. There are two open access rules that the FCC has set. The network must be open to devices and open to applications. That’s huge. Basically it says if Verizon wins they can’t dictate which phones are allowed on the network and what software they can download and use.

Anyone who has used Verizon in the past knows they have a penchant for crippling their handsets so all the features the phone is capable do not function, then they usually try and nickel and dime you for some form of partial functionality. Remember when camera-phones came out and they claimed that the only way to get the photos off the phone was to pay them to email them to you? Ever wonder why is so damn hard to move your phone book on and off their phones (but they can do it for $15), ever wonder why saints and babies cry? Verizon’s anti-user business practices are the answers.

The winner of block C will have to compete against any phone that comes to market and meets the interface specs. That means we might start to see cell phones in the States that are as cool as the one in South Korea. For those of you that don’t know, South Korea is way ahead of the US in cell phone technology. Do you think we were the first ones to get the Chocolate? Bah. South Korea had that phone a year or two before we did….and when they had it; it was dark brown like a chocolate bar (thus the name!)

Not everyone is happy with the open access auction rules. Google had been pushing for more rules. In addition to the open device and open application requirements, Google wanted to see open service and open network rules. Basically Google wanted the winner to have to provide access to block C at wholesale rates so smaller companies could be created to compete with the winner using the winner’s own network! I believe this is sort of how the landline phone system works. That’s why there was an explosion o f the cheap long distance companies…they’re using the big boy’s phone networks.

Verizon on the other hand has gone to court in an effort to sue and get all the open access restrictions dropped from the auction. In Verizon’s twisted mind the open access rules will "limit the introduction of new and innovative wireless services." I personally think they will prevent Verizon from limiting the introduction of new and innovative wireless services…

So that’s why the 700 MHz auction is cool. It might mean wireless broadband access with new devices that are not strictly dictated by the two big cell phone companies. Sounds pretty awesome to me.

For the record I am a Verizon customer. I think they have a good network with craptastic customer relations and crippled handsets. Anything that might force them to improve in their two weak areas is ok by me.

Watch your toes. I'm about to drop some knowledge.

Why should you care about the 700 MHz auction? What, you don’t trust me that it’s cool? You want a reason? Well Ok. Do you like cell phones and broadband internet connections? I’m being silly, who doesn’t?

Well the 700 MHz auction is being billed as the possibility to deliver a “3rd pipe” of broadband internet access to consumers. The first two pipes are cable modems and DSL. The cool thing about the “third pipe” is that it wireless. Meaning that if you live out in the boondocks you don’t have to wait until a cable or phone company decides to make service available at your house. The coverage of the “3rd pipe” is supposedly going to be pretty complete; meaning only the most rural of the rural should be outside of its range.

So if there is this new wireless broadband connection, imagine what that can mean for your cell phone… really good coverage and really fast data transfers. The promise of mobile internet will finally be realized in full. Imagine what it means for all the wonderful devices you want to connect to your cell phone… you won’t have hunt for WiFi hotspots because the whole country is a hotspot (if you have service some whoever the 3rd pipe provider is.) So that’s what it means to you, the possibility of better coverage and faster internet access.

A Bit of History
Where does this wondrous 700 MHz range come from and why haven’t we exploited it before? Have you heard about all the hubbub of network television stations having to switch over to digital broadcasts? If you’re a cable or dish TV subscriber it really won’t affect you, but if you get your TV the old fashion way, over the air with an antenna (hopefully with some artfully placed coat-hangers to augment it) then it might be a big deal. Basically the government is forcing all television stations to switch over to digital broadcasts, which will mean you’ll need a digital tuner to pick up the station. If you’re using an antenna to pick up your TV you probably don’t have a digital tuner built into your television. That means you’ll need to get a digital tuner to pick up over-the-air broadcasts before February 17th 2009, that’s the deadline for the transition.

So the magical 700 MHz range comes from reclaiming the old analog television broadcast range. The government gets to turn around and re-lease the frequency range to another industry. It is expect that the government should raise ~10 billion auctioning off.

Tomorrow, technical details and political intrigue!

A Prelude to an Auction

Has everyone else being following the 700 MHz auction with as much anticipation as I have? What, no one? Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Sigh.

I’ve got a busy morning so I don’t have time to track down all the details like I should. I was going to try and do a quick post about what the 700 MHz auction is and what it might mean to you. The more I started to research it the more I realized that there is far too much information for a single post. Plus I wanted to take my time with it and try to make sense of what’s really going on. So instead of a shoddy quick post that glosses over some of the fun and exciting details I’m going to put this teaser up and start taking the issue apart in future posts.

Sorry I don’t have something more substantial to tide you over until I get around to writing some more. Perhaps you can try doing what I did yesterday… look at this Luxist Estate of the Day and imagine hunkering down there for a nice snowy Christmas. On that note, if anyone is looking for a good Christmas gift idea for me this estate would make a dandy gift.

Coffee is there anything you can’t do?

I think if it were not for digital cameras, at some point I would have tried to develop my own film. I remember wanting to take a photography class as an undergrad, but never being able to work it into my schedule. With D-SLR cameras being readily available these days I don’t know if I’ll ever summon up enough curiosity to want to play around with all the chemicals that traditional film developing entails. Once you develop the film negatives you have to figure out how to get it on paper. Seems like a lot of hassle. Also seems strange that it was pretty much the only option about 10 years ago. Actual film is such an anachronism these days.

If I do end up playing around with traditional film I know something I definitely want to try. I read about how you can develop black and white film with instant coffee. How cool is that? (Answer: pretty cool).

The results look pretty evocative in that way that good black and white photos always look. I’m sure a digital camera can produce similar results, but I factor in the journey as part of the fun. It has to be a good story to tell people who you developed the picture using coffee.

Come to think of it, it makes me a little sad that I’ll probably never play around with real film camera. That was something I had always wanted to do…but now there is absolutely no reason to do it. Kind of strange when you keep putting something off and realize that technology has nullified the option. Not that I’m complaining. I’ll just have to look forward to getting a fancy D-SLR and playing around with that. Actually that’s kind of exciting. Sadness all gone.

Slightly Better than the Tell-Tale-Riblet

Last week I insinuated that I wanted a tech topic to blog on and like a wretched monkey paw the gods granted my wish.

Over the weekend Dawn and I came to the sad realization that our media PC was sick. Specifically, it no longer could be trusted to record television shows for us without replacing the audio with hissing static. This discovery coincided with Dawn anxiously attempting to watch the first part of the season finale to Dr Who. The SciFi channel showed the finale twice, we attempted to record it both times and both recordings are damaged. So sad. It doesn’t look like they’ll replay it until after the show has wrapped up.

I built our current media PC from scratch as “fun” side project. This was before Vista came out and Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005 was the only viable choice. At the time MCE 2005 was considered OEM software, meaning it wasn’t an end-user product but one intended for original equipment manufacturers (OEM). As such, it didn’t have robust hardware support, and in fact, I had to buy a second motherboard to build the system just because MCE 2005 didn’t like the flavor of the first one. The most expensive part I put in the computer was an ATI All-in-Wonder card that does the job of both video card and video encoder card. Since that’s on the fritz I now have to replace both functions of the computer. I suppose that’s the dark side of multifunction devices.

By Saturday morning Dawn and I had somewhat recovered from the staggering blow that we might have to watch television when shows were actually scheduled like a common plebeian. We decided that by the time we replaced the malfunctioning hardware and made other routine upgrades (I’d been thinking about upgrading the OS to Vista) we might as well buy a new media PC…which is exactly what we did.

We ordered a new PC to ascend to the title of media PC. When I say new I really mean refurbished, but it will be new to us. The new PC is also one of the HP slimline computers, one of the cute little ones. I’m especially excited that the media PC will be an attractive little box instead of a giant black eyesore like our old one. In addition to being a giant black void on the floor it has a series of multi-colored LEDs that constantly flash when it’s on. That’s a feature I wasn’t aware of when I bought the case. So our media PC has always looked like it might be a small discotheque in the corner.

With any luck I’ll get all the new equipment in this week and get it setup and ready to go by next weekend.

Guess what, you’re all superfluous!

I’ve developed a new talent, evolved a new life skill if-you-will. It’s not big secret that I’m a card carrying introvert and sometime amateur misanthrope. I’ve developed a technique to converse with all my friends while taking the human element out of the conversations….what’s more is it’s even better than email or this blog!

I simply have the conversation with you in my head and then record that as an actual real conversation. I get the benefit of talking with you with having to actually deal with you. It’s a beautiful thing.

I first noticed my new skill last weekend when a friend absolutely denied having a conversation with me even though I was sure we had one. Turns out I just did all the heavy lifting on the conversating side in my head and let them be. That means less effort for you! I’ve done it with Dawn a couple of times this week as well.

I’m not sure if this is the first step on the road to insanity or if I’m about to enter a new era of social bliss. Are the two mutually exclusive?

Bill's Guide to Whipping a Dead Horse

I thought I had made my peace with Tim Gunn’s show yesterday. I complained about it, I poked some fun at it. Time to move on, right? Wrong.

Dawn and I watched it again last night….and the first five minutes of the show, of all of his shows, are unbearable. They drive me crazy. It’s like they flagellate temporal continuity.

The show opens with Tim and whats-her-name talking about this week’s subject. They decide she needs help. Fine, I’m with the show so far. They call her and the show cuts to the person answering the phone. They are surprised to learn that Tim Gunn is coming to help their fashion crisis….surprised? Oh really? Did the camera crew following her around town and being completely mic’ed not arouse any suspicions?

Then Tim says he’s going to be there in 20 minutes so they better be ready. The person freaks out because they have race back home and get ready for Tim. Tim is supposedly placing this call from his office in New York. Most of the subjects so far have been in New Jersey. I don’t think there is a chance in hell that Tim can even make it out of the city in 20 minutes. Why place a ridiculous, arbitrary, unbelievable time here?

Tim eventually shows up and the person is a mess. They are so shocked that they’ve been chosen to be on the show. They look in the closet. THEY ASK FOR THE PHOTOS THAT THE PERSON HAS TAKEN OF THEIR OUTFITS FOR THE LAST FIVE DAYS. The person who didn’t know they were going to be on the show twenty minutes ago. Arghghghghg! Kurplow [head explodes].

I don’t get the show’s dependency on needless, hopelessly artificial, staging. It hurts my head and diminishes the shows credibility. Tim, why do you hurt me?

I could go on and on about all the other things the show does that bother me (and there are many)…but let me highlight just one example of the show making my brain bleed.

Last night they determined that the subject felt guilty about taking care of herself, so they made her put on a weighted vest to help visualize the problem. They had her write things that she felt guilty about and attached the tags to weights. They proceeded to weigh her down with her guilt and then made her walk back and forth like a dunce. Then to free her from the guilt they had her cut the tags……but left the weights attached to the vest…. I can only assume the purpose of the exercise it to show her that she needs not know the name of her guilt…that she should just become accustomed to living with the crushing weight of impending nameless dread. Nice one Tim.

Ok, phew. That was cathartic. I promise no more posts in the near future of Tim Gunn’s show. I made the show the one thing I was going to do last night that wasn’t studying or homework. I feel like I did not reap any rewards for my investment.Didn’t I used to talk about technology? That always made me happy. Maybe I should focus the blog a bit more on that.